French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday announced the end of the country’s decade-long Barkhane anti-jihadist mission in Africa that supported the regional forces in fight against Islamist insurgents in the Sahel region, reported The Africa News.
“I have decided, in coordination with our partners, to make official today the end of the Barkhane operation,” Macron said in a speech at a naval base in Toulon.
He said some French troops would remain in the region under new arrangements to be worked out with host countries.
Operation Barkhane was launched in 2013 when militant groups took control of much of northern Mali before being turned back. The operation saw the deployment of some 5,500 French soldiers in Mali, Niger, Chad, Burkina Faso and Mauritania.
The French president said the move was the result of “what we have experienced” in the last few months, and a new strategy would be worked out within the next half-year.
“Our military support for African countries will continue, but according to new principles that we have defined with them,” said Macron.
Notably, the announcement will have no impact on the presence of French military in the Sahel region. About 3,000 French troops will remain deployed in Chad, Burkina Faso, and Niger, but they will not act independently, only in co-ordinated actions with national armies. The continuing deployment will not have any official name, which means that it is no longer an external operation as Barkhane was.
In February, the French army announced its withdrawal from Mali as relations soured with the country’s military rulers over their alleged collusion with the Russia-backed Wagner group. The last French troops left the Gao town on August 15.
Macron said that in the coming days his government will begin talks with African nations and regional organisations and allies to change the status, format and mission of French bases in Africa.
